Big local plans for Toyota HiLux

Toyota Australia has revealed that it has plans in the pipeline for its now six-year-old eighth-generation Toyota HiLux to keep it competitive with the all-new 2022 Ford Ranger.

The confirmation was made by local product planning and development general manager Rod Ferguson at the opening of Toyota Australia’s new $40m product, conversion and evaluation centre at Altona in Melbourne.

“I really can’t share product plans we have for HiLux but you can rest assured we have plans for our most important vehicle and the number-one-selling vehicle in Australia,” Ferguson said.

“I’m not at a point where I can share [those plans] with you.”

Despite holding back on specific details for HiLux, Ferguson said the new Altona facility had the potential for further vehicle development and enhancement.

“We are definitely looking at what other things we can utilise [within the new facility], so further development in those areas and the design and how we can enhance vehicles,” he said.

“You’ve seen the way we can employ Toyota production systems now on a smaller scale compared to what it was on a big scale on this site, so we very much want to use that as a showcase … we’re very much open for new projects.”

Ferguson also said that “consolidating the product teams on one site in a state-of-the art facility, alongside other TMCA [Toyota Motor Corporation Australia] business functions, will foster a level of collaboration that hasn’t been possible before”.

“The new Toyota product centre ensures Toyota’s legacy of locally developed products will continue for decades to come,” he said.

The new centre is not set up to handle a full-scale right-hand drive conversion program for the bigger Toyota Tundra, leaving Toyota Oz to consider a “partnership or arrangement” with a third-party company such as Walkinshaw Group which already remanufactures RAM and Chevrolet pick-ups for our market.

However, the new facility could see the Australian arm of the Japanese auto giant ramp up programs for the Thai-built Toyota HiLux, as it does already with the Rugged X and Rogue flagship 4x4 dual-cab utes.

This could lead to harder-core off-road HiLux models designed to compete on better terms with the incoming next-generation Ford Ranger Raptor, as well as sportier on-road-oriented versions along similar lines to the Walkinshaw-fettled Volkswagen Amarok 580S.

We wouldn’t mind tipping that an Australian-tweaked Toyota HiLux GR Sport is high on the agenda as the company looks to draw attention away from the incoming new Ranger – and given that a new-generation HiLux isn’t expected for another few years.

Also speaking at the opening of the new Altona centre, Toyota Australia chief designer Nick Hogios said the new facility had the capacity to upscale its operations if and when needed.

“We’ve got a workforce set up in such a way that we can flex,” he said.

“What you’ve seen is that we’ve got a facility that can definitely accommodate more: we can add more people we can add more machinery if we need to.”

Toyota Australia’s vice-president of product, guest and aftersales operations Mike Rausa added that the new centre “would give the product design, engineering and evaluation teams even more opportunities to create exciting products”.

“We’ve already seen what our planning and development teams are capable of, with vehicles like the HiLux Rugged X and HiLux Rogue proving to be popular here in Australia and creating accessories that are adopted in markets around the world,” he said.

“We wanted to retain and build on the capability developed during our long history of vehicle manufacturing, providing a highly collaborative environment that would allow Australian design and engineering expertise and know-how to be utilised within the broad Toyota family.

“The new product centre delivers just that – keeping jobs, skills and career paths grounded in Australia.”